Saint Petersburg marks the Memorial Day in honor of the victims of the Siege of Leningrad today. It is timed with the beginning of the siege, TASS informs.
Memorial ceremonies traditionally started with flowers’ laying rituals by the plate of the building on Nevsky Prospect № 14. The plate informs citizens about the danger of artillery fire. Flowers and wreaths laying ceremony was also held at Piskarevskoye memorial cemetery. Around half a million citizens and defenders of Leningrad are buried in this biggest mass grave of the Second World War. At present, there are about 90 thousand survivors of the Leningrad siege living in Saint Petersburg.
Citizens read poems by Anna Akhmatova who spent summer and autumn of 1941 in Leningrad. Poetry was recited at the Field of Mars where the stage was constructed out of GAS AA car called “Polutorka” which used to deliver bread to Leningrad citizens. Symphony No. 7 of Dmitri Shostakovich in format of theatre performance was staged there today. Participants of military-historical clubs took part in the memorial events.
"I talk to you from Leningrad Requiem" evening was conducted today at the square near the Triumphal Arch in Krasnoselskу region. It is one of the places where citizens met soldiers coming back from the front line in 1945. Leningrad radio records, multimedia projections of historical memorials and contemporary monuments will be displayed for the guests. The siege survivors and defenders of Leningrad were telling true stories.
Passengers of the public transport will watch historical documentary Episodes of Leningrad Defense. The Leningrad Siege.
Russkiy Mir
